Ashleigh Banfield took to the airwaves on Monday to call for an end to violent death threats directed at her because of her coverage of the Michael Dunn trial.

Banfield told her audience of CNN viewers she and members of her family received death threats on Twitter:

"Call it back, folks!" Banfield exclaimed. "Stop threatening to kill
people on Twitter because you don't like what they are saying! That's
the problem. If we can't communicate, we are never going to know what
the problem is. And this is a case that outlines it."

"I have had it with people who
are threatening me, and my kids, and my family over simply commenting on
the law and criminal procedure and respecting juries! Because they do
work hard!" she said. "They work way harder than I do and they work way harder than
the rest of those people making those peanut gallery comments."

Say whatever you want about Banfield and her brand of television journalism, but I could not agree more. I am sick and tired of people getting bullied or terrorized off the Internet because they are bombarded with threats that have no place in civil discourse.

I disagree with lots of people. LOTS AND LOTS OF THEM, YOU GUYS. And I'm sure all of you do, too. I get it. But when exactly did we let a platform for communication turn into a vehicle for posting death threats to people who have opinions we don't like? Seriously, how did we let that happen? I remember using Twitter back in 20[oh god you are fucking old, lady] and it was a nice, funny, weird experience. A lot of uncomfortable over-sharing, sure. But I can't remember any death threats.